Gordon Lightfoot Forums - View Single Post - Noisy audiences

Auburn Annie · 03-07-2010, 03:31 PM

Pity the poor actors, deep in character, trying to maintain an illusion, when some idiot's cellphone goes off - and they ANSWER it!

During a Broadway performance one day (of The Lion in Winter, of all things), Laurence Fishburne was interrupted by a ringing cell phone. Fishburne's response? He turned to the offending member of the audience and yelled: "Turn your f---ing phone off!"

I suspect the rest of the audience cheered, but it must have been a struggle to revert to medieval England after that.

Hugh Jackman, who was onstage with Daniel Craig, also had a few words for a disruptive audience member. I think the only place you might find it now is on TMZ (they hold the copyright and had it removed from YouTube and everywhere else when it went viral last fall.) Here's a description of what happened:

Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig were trying to perform their play “A Steady Rain” Wednesday night in NYC — but some nitwit forgot to turn off his mobile phone. Jackman set the dude straight — staying in character all the while. Minutes later, the ring tone echoed through the theater again and Craig’s response was Tony-worthy.

He did it recently when a cell phone call interrupted a preview performance of “A Steady Rain,” the Broadway play that stars Jackman and Daniel Craig.

The crude video shown by the TMZ.com Web site appears to have been shot from the audience.

It shows Jackman breaking character to tell the owner of the ringing cell phone, “You want to get that?” as the audience erupts in cheers. As the ringing persists, Jackman pleads: “Come on, just turn it off.” He then paces the stage of the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, waits about a minute for the ringing to stop and the play resumes.

My favorite "bad audience member" story came from Michael Crawford, as told on a "Making of Phantom" special that runs once in a while on either BBC America or Ovation. It seems that when they first brought The Phantom of the Opera to Broadway, during one performance at a crucial moment of the play (probably "The Music of the Night") some quintessential Noo Yawk woman in the front row answered her ringing cell phone, and could be heard (over the orchestra, actors, etc) exclaiming to her friend at the other end, "yes! I'm here! He's wonderful, listen!" and held out the cell phone for friend to hear Michael Crawford TRY to continue singing the show's signature song. Can you imagine??

03-07-2010, 03:31 PM	#5
Auburn Annie Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Upstate New York Posts: 3,101	Re: Noisy audiences - quote Pity the poor actors, deep in character, trying to maintain an illusion, when some idiot's cellphone goes off - and they ANSWER it! During a Broadway performance one day (of The Lion in Winter, of all things), Laurence Fishburne was interrupted by a ringing cell phone. Fishburne's response? He turned to the offending member of the audience and yelled: "Turn your f---ing phone off!" I suspect the rest of the audience cheered, but it must have been a struggle to revert to medieval England after that. Hugh Jackman, who was onstage with Daniel Craig, also had a few words for a disruptive audience member. I think the only place you might find it now is on TMZ (they hold the copyright and had it removed from YouTube and everywhere else when it went viral last fall.) Here's a description of what happened: Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig were trying to perform their play “A Steady Rain” Wednesday night in NYC — but some nitwit forgot to turn off his mobile phone. Jackman set the dude straight — staying in character all the while. Minutes later, the ring tone echoed through the theater again and Craig’s response was Tony-worthy. He did it recently when a cell phone call interrupted a preview performance of “A Steady Rain,” the Broadway play that stars Jackman and Daniel Craig. The crude video shown by the TMZ.com Web site appears to have been shot from the audience. It shows Jackman breaking character to tell the owner of the ringing cell phone, “You want to get that?” as the audience erupts in cheers. As the ringing persists, Jackman pleads: “Come on, just turn it off.” He then paces the stage of the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, waits about a minute for the ringing to stop and the play resumes. My favorite "bad audience member" story came from Michael Crawford, as told on a "Making of Phantom" special that runs once in a while on either BBC America or Ovation. It seems that when they first brought The Phantom of the Opera to Broadway, during one performance at a crucial moment of the play (probably "The Music of the Night") some quintessential Noo Yawk woman in the front row answered her ringing cell phone, and could be heard (over the orchestra, actors, etc) exclaiming to her friend at the other end, "yes! I'm here! He's wonderful, listen!" and held out the cell phone for friend to hear Michael Crawford TRY to continue singing the show's signature song. Can you imagine??